dognovel Chapter 1007 That bastard didn't set a trap for us? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Chapter 1007 That bastard didn't set a trap for us? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Old Deng's manner of eating crabs wasn't particularly refined.
No tools like pliers, hammers, clips, or thimbles are used; the crab is opened directly by hand. First, the solidified crab roe is placed in Queen Ma's bowl. Then, the crab legs are broken apart, and with a slight squeeze using two plier-like fingers, the meat inside the crab legs is squeezed out.
Empress Ma smiled and picked up a piece of crab roe with her chopsticks, dipped it lightly in the ginger and vinegar sauce in the small bowl in front of her, and then held the chopsticks to Emperor Zhu's mouth.
"Don't just think about peeling it for me, you should try some too."
"Also, crabs are cold in nature. Even if you have ginger and vinegar to neutralize their coldness, you still shouldn't eat too many."
Emperor Zhu grunted in agreement, then took a bite of the crab roe from his chopsticks and slowly savored its deliciousness, saying indistinctly, "If we don't eat more, we'll be at a loss."
"Girl, do you believe it or not? That bastard sent us crabs because he's after the honor of being a tribute item."
"That bastard is practically turning the cicada nymphs of Ningyang into tribute items!"
Empress Ma smiled and said, "Then you really guessed wrong, or rather, you only guessed half right."
Emperor Zhu was slightly taken aback, but Empress Ma said with a smile, "Your good son-in-law doesn't even know about raising crabs in Daming Lake. How could he possibly be thinking about making Daming Lake crabs into tribute?"
"This time, it was your two good daughters who came up with this idea."
“Even the crab larvae were transported from Yangcheng Lake back to Ningyang by them.”
Emperor Zhu froze, his hand still peeling crab legs. After a long silence, he sighed and said, "Why are we raising two daughters?"
"It is said that once a daughter is married, she is like water spilled from a bowl."
"But those two...that...that's just too..."
Emperor Zhu struggled for a long time without finding a suitable adjective, and finally could only curse angrily: "It's all that bastard's fault!"
……
There's a saying among the people: "He who eats another's food is bound to do his bidding; he who takes another's money is bound to do his bidding."
Emperor Zhu openly and secretly asked Yang Shaofeng for "four kinds of gifts" and also ate crabs from Daming Lake in Ningyang County and a variety of "Ningyang fancy mooncakes".
After being fed and taken advantage of, Emperor Zhu felt too embarrassed to continue tormenting Yang Shaofeng.
Therefore, Emperor Zhu prepared to make things difficult for Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen.
"What have Mr. Shanchang and Mr. Qingtian thought about regarding that female worker?"
Emperor Zhu glanced meaningfully at the mooncake gift boxes beside Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen, and then continued, "Let me be frank, we think the women's work is a good thing, but judging from that scoundrel's character, there might be some traps waiting for us."
Following Emperor Zhu's gaze, Li Shanchang looked at the mooncake gift box beside him, then stroked his beard, smiled, cupped his hands in greeting to Emperor Zhu, and said, "Your Majesty, I have been thinking about this carefully these past two days, and I have a few ideas."
Emperor Zhu's eyes lit up, and Li Shanchang continued, "If it is necessary to use female workers, then use them."
"Actually, there are no future problems."
"This time, the Prince Consort really didn't dig a pit randomly."
What the hell?
Didn't that bastard set a trap for us?
Emperor Zhu simply snorted coldly and said, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Rather than believing that bastard didn't set a trap for us, we'd rather believe the sun rises in the west!
Li Shanchang stroked his beard and smiled, saying, "Your Excellency, the reason why the Prince Consort brought up the idea of female workers was partly to cause trouble for you, but also because it was indeed to solve the problem of insufficient manpower."
Emperor Zhu snorted coldly and said, "See? Isn't he still trying to make things difficult for us?"
Li Shanchang smiled and said, "Does Your Excellency still remember that long before the household registration system was reformed, there was a category for female households among the many household registrations in our Great Ming Dynasty?"
"After the household registration system was reformed, the terms 'female households registered as entertainers' and 'female households registered as palace maids' disappeared. They were all unified into civilian households along with the original female households."
The female household system existed as early as the Han Dynasty. In cases such as when a husband died in battle without a son or a father died without brothers, a woman would become the head of the household and the household would be established as a female household.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, the conditions for establishing a female household were further relaxed, and a female household could be established as long as the widow had no children.
Women in households enjoyed the right to independently manage their land and household registration, and were entitled to preferential treatment such as tax reductions and exemptions.
Due to the household registration system in the Ming Dynasty, female households were divided into traditional female households and professional female households. Among them, professional female households were further subdivided into palace maid households and female households registered as entertainers.
The traditional female households, needless to say, enjoyed the same rights and preferential treatment as female households during the Han and Tang dynasties.
Among professional female households, those who served as palace maids were required to regularly report whether they had given birth to a daughter and the daughter's age, as they could be selected to enter the palace as palace maids at any time.
Women registered as entertainers originally belonged to a class of low social status and were mainly responsible for singing and dancing performances.
As for the legendary Chaotian Women's Household, it had not yet appeared in the seventh year of the Hongwu reign.
Because the term "Chaotian Nühu" specifically refers to concubines who died with the emperor but had no children, their fathers, brothers, and other direct relatives could obtain hereditary Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) official positions and salaries.
Here's something important to note:
The book "Zui Wei Lu" states that Emperor Zhu took Consort Weng as a concubine in the 25th year of the Hongwu reign, and ordered Consort Weng and Consort Li to be buried alive with him before his death. However, this requires a prerequisite: the author of "Zui Wei Lu" was Zha Jizuo, who denounced Zhuang Tinglong, the compiler of "Ming Shi Ji Lue", which triggered the famous "Ming Shi Case".
Of course, Cha Jizuo's descendant, Cha Mouyong, used subtle writing to pin the blame for betraying Zhuang Tinglong on Wu Zhirong.
Li Shanchang continued, "Besides female households, there were already many weaving workshops in Jiangnan that employed female workers."
"Although according to the Prince Consort's words," Li Shanchang's expression turned slightly strange, but he had to bite the bullet and say, "women should be used like men and men like livestock, based on my observations in Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture, the so-called use of women as men is nothing more than allowing women to enter more workshops to work, not truly using women as men."
"The only problem here is that once women enter the workshop to work, they can receive wages properly and no longer need to depend on men for a living. Will some women not want to get married?"
"In addition, marriage and childbirth will affect at least a year, and the safety of the journey from home to the workshop also needs to be considered."
"There are also women working in the workshops, and if a man is in charge of the workshop, the reputation will be affected to some extent."
Emperor Zhu nodded unconsciously, while Li Shanchang stroked his beard and smiled, saying, "Actually, the Imperial Son-in-Law had already properly resolved these issues back in Ningyang County."
"In my opinion, we should not worry about why the Prince Consort only mentioned using female workers but did not say how to solve these problems. The Emperor does not need to think about it. He should just have people follow the precedent of using female workers in the workshops of Ningyang County."
Li Shanchang smiled and subtly tried to sow discord among Yang Shaofeng, saying, "Don't forget that Ningyang County was originally under the direct jurisdiction of the Central Secretariat. It was the only directly administered county in our Great Ming Dynasty and a pilot area for many new things."